RailRiders Insider 5/25/2014

This is a 2013 photo of Jim MIller of the New York Yankees baseball team. This image reflects the Yankees’ spring training roster as of Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, when this image was taken. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

A note, a quote and a number

A note: More and more, scouts and player development types have used advanced metrics with minor league players to predict the future performance of prospects once they get to the big leagues. Recently, one veteran scout told me if I only pay attention to one statistic this season, it should be contact percentage. Quite obviously, that measures the percentage of swings a hitter takes that make contact with the pitch, and as the scout put it: “Hey, if you can’t make consistent contact, what good are you going to be as a hitter in the majors?” He said more and more organizations are looking at contact percentage as a mitigating factor as to whether a player will be called up or kept in the minors, with contact percentages in the low-to-mid-80s considered about average (although, that number can dip into the mid-70s if a hitter is deemed to have exceptional power potential). Since scouts start taking these stats a bit more seriously when a hitter reaches 100 at-bats in a season, it may be worth noting that, according to minorleaguecentral.com, there are actually five RailRiders who have come to bat at least 100 times and have a contact percentage in the 80s: Jose Pirela (85.7), Ramon Flores (84.7), Antoan Richardson (82.3), Zelous Wheeler (81.5) and Adonis Garcia (80.7). Take that for what it’s worth.

A quote: “It’s still 60-feet, 6-inches to the plate. It’s still the same game. You’ve still got to make quality pitches, thrown them one at a time, and do a good job.” -- RailRiders pitcher Matt Tracy, on making the jump from Double-A to Triple-A after his eight-inning, two-run performance against Rochester on Thursday at PNC Field.

A number: -14. That’s the RailRiders’ run differential this season, easily the lowest in the International League among teams with winning records entering play Friday. In fact, only Lehigh Valley (at -4) ranks with the RailRiders among winning teams that had allowed more runs than they scored.

Around the IL

A look at the big stories developing around the International League in the past week.

■ Toledo slugger Mike Hessman reached a milestone rarely seen in the minors on Tuesday when he hit his 11th home run of the season at Rochester. That’s because that two-run shot in the top of the first, which did give him the lead in the IL, happened to be the 400th of his minor-league career. Only three other players have hit 400 homers in minor-league careers played exclusively in the United States: Buzz Arlett (432), Nick Cullop (420) and Merv Connors (400), according to Milb.com.

■ Fans can vote online starting Friday for their favorite International League players to play in the Triple-A All-Star Game on July 16 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. They can log in to www.milb.com or www.ilbaseball.com to get the ballots. Speaking of All-Star Games, it was announced that Werner Park, home of the Omaha Storm Chasers, will be the site of the 2015 Triple-A All-Star Game.

■ What difference does a new downtown ballpark make? All the difference for the Charlotte Knights, evidently. The Knights have drawn at least 8,200 fans to every home game this season at the new BB&T Ballpark, averaging 9,569 fans per game and leading the league in that category by more than 1,000 fans per opening. That said, at 15-31, the Knights are also the worst team in the IL, and they’re just 9-13 in their new digs.

Promotion of the week

Military Appreciation Day

Monday, at Louisville

The RailRiders don’t play a home game after today’s series-finale against Rochester, as they’ll head to Louisville to start an eight-game road trip that begins on Memorial Day. But to honor the holiday and the men and women who have served the nation at home and overseas, the Bats are admitting all veterans, active duty military, military family members, reservists and national guardsman free of charge to the Memorial Day game.

Q&A

This week, we chat with RailRiders reliever Jim Miller about his time in the big leagues, life away from the ballpark and his affinity for old-school statistics.

Q: Outside of making your big league debut, what was your favorite moment in your baseball life?

A: It was 2012 when we clinched the AL West with Oakland. That was by far my favorite moment in my career. To be part of that was awesome.

Q: What was it like playing in Oakland? That team is always so consistent.

A: It was a lot of fun. We had a good group of guys out there, and they still do. The coaching staff was outstanding. That year was the first year when they kind of arrived on the scene over the last couple of years, and nobody expected us to do what we did. The second half of that season was just a ton of fun because we were winning a ton of games and putting ourselves in position for a playoff run. Then all of a sudden, we come home playing three against Seattle and three against Texas, and we swept both of them and won the West.

Q: Do you kind of feel like you get to play a bit in anonymity in Oakland?

A: It’s like playing with house money, really. Now, because they have a good group of guys, it’s a little different. But nobody expects anything of you because they’re a lower market team. In a way, it kind of relaxes you because you think, “Nobody expects much,” so you can just go out and play.

Q: What do you like to do to pass the time when you aren’t at the ballpark?

A: Since I became a dad, I just like kind of hanging around the house and playing with my boy. He’s 22 months now, and he’s having a good time. Being able to chase him around the house and do stuff with him, seeing him do the new stuff he can do every day, that takes up most of my time. When I’m not playing baseball, that’s what I want to be doing. Running around, chasing him.

Q: When you were growing up, what was the backup plan if baseball didn’t work out?

A: Honestly, I hadn’t even considered playing pro ball until my junior year in college, when I started getting some attention. Before that, I was just getting an education. Teach? Do something in insurance? Something in business? Something with numbers, because I was really good with numbers.

Q: Since you’re so good with numbers, do you follow the stats closely, even some of the new metrics that a lot of the scouts and teams are following now?

A: I follow the conventional stats. Some of the new advanced stats they get into just blows my mind to even be able to come up with it. I try not to pay too much attention to the advanced stuff, to be honest. For me, I worry about what my ERA is at and what my inherited runners percentage scoring is, and trying to have better than a three-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio. If I do that, I feel like I’m putting myself in the best position.

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